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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Primary round-up

Last night was a big primary night around the country. We're pretty sure that more than a couple Democrats aren't pleased with who they're going to be facing this fall. Needless to say, the GOP women shined brightly last night in their wins:Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, who ascended to the top of the business world before turning to politics, prevailed on Tuesday in their respective battles for the Republican nominations for the United States Senate and governor in California, setting the stage for costly general election fights this fall.Ms. Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, beat Tom Campbell, a former congressman, and Chuck DeVore, whose candidacy drew the backing of many Tea Party activists. She will face the incumbent senator, Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, in the fall.

Ms. Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay and a billionaire, had invested a small share of her personal fortune to prevail in the governor’s race over Steve Poizner, the state insurance commissioner, who put $24 million of his own money into his primary campaign. She will challenge Jerry Brown, the state’s Democratic attorney general, who was first elected governor of California three decades ago. ...In a closely watched race in Arkansas, Senator Blanche Lincoln survived a tough challenge from her party’s left wing to capture the Democratic nomination in a runoff primary election, resisting the anti-incumbent wave that has defined the midterm election year.

Mrs. Lincoln withstood a multimillion-dollar campaign against her from organized labor, environmental groups and liberal advocacy organizations from outside Arkansas as she prevailed over Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. She faces a difficult contest in the fall, but her victory challenges the suggestion that voters are poised to oust all officeholders.

“We proved that this senator’s vote is not for sale and neither is yours,” Mrs. Lincoln said. “We took on the outside groups seeking to manipulate our votes.”

It was the busiest primary day so far this year, a coast-to-coast series of contests that stretched from Maine to California and helped to decide which candidates will be on the general election ballot in races for governor, the House and the Senate.

Setting the stage for one of the more intriguing races this fall, Nevada Republicans chose Sharron Angle, a candidate backed by the Tea Party, to challenge Senator Harry Reid, the embattled Senate majority leader. Mr. Reid has emerged as a primary target of conservatives intent on dethroning key Democrats this year.

In South Carolina, Nikki Haley moved closer to becoming the first female governor of South Carolina as she strongly outpaced three Republican primary rivals in one of the nation’s most divisive contests. ...Iowa Republicans nominated Terry Branstad, who served as the state’s governor from 1983 to 1999, to run again. He prevailed in a three-way primary and will face Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, in the fall.

In another South Carolina race, Representative Bob Inglis, a Republican who has occasionally broken with his party on national security and social issues, was forced into a runoff against Trey Gowdy.

In the only contest of the night that will send a new lawmaker to Congress, voters in the northwest corner of Georgia elected a former State House member, Tom Graves, to fill a House vacancy created when Representative Nathan Deal left to run for governor. It was a low-turnout election and is expected to be the last special Congressional election before November, meaning that any new vacancies will be filled on Nov. 2.

In Virginia, Robert Hurt, a state senator, easily won a contested Republican primary to challenge Representative Tom Perriello, a freshman Democrat, in November. Mr. Perriello is considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents because of his votes for both the Democratic health care bill and climate change measures.

What the Times failed to cover was that Jim DeMint won his primary in South Carolina, as well, putting to rest all of the critics saying he was done like dinner. Also, sadly, John Eastman came in second in the California AG race. While we would've liked to see him on the ballot in November, his half-million votes showed that he wasn't a flash in the pan, and many, many Californians that backed him were signalling that they wanted to see a serious change in the AG's office. Anyone who thought that Ms. Whitman, Ms. Fiorina, and Ms. Angle didn't have a shot at winning, I hope you all enjoy the egg on your face. Both Whitman and Fiorina are going to be tough opponents for Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer, respectively. (If I were either of them, I'd be sitting down with my campaign staff today to devise a strategy. However, they'd be smart to remember both of these women are former CEOs -- captains of industry -- and they're extremely smart, savvy, and shrewd.)On a lighter note, noted Birther, Orly Taitz, lost in her bid to be California's GOP nominee for Secretary of State. This loon is so out there she tried to get her opponent thrown off the ballot, using the argument he didn't file his registration by the deadline. Furthermore, if any of you happen to be fans of her, and are still holding out a glimmer of hope she can win any of her nutty Birther lawsuits in an effort to overturn the presidential election in 2008, you can forget it. She's been sanctioned by so many courts, forbidding her suits, that this should be the final nail in this woman's coffin, both politically and legally. And just as we shed no tears for Helen Thomas retiring, we shed no tears over this nutbag's loss.Congrats to the winners. They have a long, tough slog ahead of them. We know Democrats aren't going to silently disappear into the night. They know that their political future this year doesn't look good. Between the anti-incumbent sentiment in the country, the ire the nation has towards congressional Democrats, and the constituents the so-called Blue Dogs lied to the Democrats could face a serious drubbing this November. The Cook Political Report's last numbers that I saw showed a significant shift in the House, with the GOP retaking it, and some heartbreakers in the Senate that will, at the very least, narrow the numbers. In short, November is going to turn this president into a eunuch. Barry will be forced to work with the GOP legitimately in an even-handed and honest fashion, or he'll be relegated to lame duck status.Publius II